Math Disabilities

A math disability, like other learning disorders, can stand in the way of a child’s potential to succeed. As with other learning problems, early recognition of a math disability is the best first step toward helping a struggling child overcome it. Even so, parents commonly dismiss math difficulty as a normal part of life, especially if they too struggled with the subject when they were young. In the minds of many, mathematics is a subject that either comes naturally to a person or remains forever out of intellectual reach; either you get it or you don’t. For many students today, getting it is no longer optional.

Learn why math is so important for success, the processes involved in doing math and strategies for making the most of math disabilities.

I had a problem with maths during my school days,now my children have similar problem. could this problem be genetic?

Amy

I believe that it is most certainly genetic! Math has always been very easy for me and no one else on my side of the family struggles with it. …except for my 8 year old daughter. She is on the A-B honor roll. She excels in every other subject but breaks down crying at the shear sight of subtraction or multiplication problem. Her language, spelling and comprehension are all above 65%, but her math is at a 10% I recently had her evaluated for ADHD. Turns out that it’s not ADHD, ITS A MATH DISABILITY! The exact same one that her dad, his sister(her Aunt) and their mother (her grandmother) have. The way they process math is so uniquely different from the way “most” people process it and it presents EXACTLY the same way in all 3 people. I’m so thankful that I was aware of the family history and that we caught it now. Her dad and Aunt suffered needlessly for many year… I’m hopeful that she will not have to.

Sre Importers

Hi Amy,

Can you tell me what they call your daughter’s (and other family members) math disability, specifically? It sounds like you are describing my son! He is in 6th grade this year (middle school) and has straight A’s (2 A+’s!!) in all other classes, and an F in Math…he has been in “Math Support” which was provided by his elementary school since 1st grade, and this year has attended “Mathnasium” after school support since August, and still has an F in math. School officials have finally agreed to test him this coming fall (9/2016) for a math disability. It’s been super frustrating for me to convince them that he is NOT a behavior problem (ADHD!!). He does have sensory integration (a spectrum disorder) but is not autistic. I’d love to know what your daughters dignosis was so I can look it up and compare, to see if it fits my son’s situation. If you could also tell me where you had her tested, I’d love to see if there is something similar where we live (Northern California). Thanks in advance for any information!! :o)

Robert J. Cardenas

I am so closely connected with this article on math disabilities. I, myself, had a huge problem understanding math when I was in elementary. I felt so alone and dumb. I had help, but not the kind of help that is now readily available to children who may be struggling. I thoroughly enjoyed this article.